Mother gets prison in drugged-driving crash

GOSHEN — Heather Linguanti wiped tears from her eyes as a prosecutor described the injuries she caused when she drove drugged and crashed her Dodge Durango.

HEATHER YAKIN

GOSHEN — Heather Linguanti wiped tears from her eyes as a prosecutor described the injuries she caused when she drove drugged and crashed her Dodge Durango.

Linguanti, 27, of the Town of Wallkill, was in Orange County Court Thursday to be sentenced for felony first-degree aggravated vehicular assault for the Dec. 26 crash on Tower Drive.

Assistant District Attorney Karen Edelman-Reyes told Judge Robert Freehill that all three of Linguanti's daughters, ages 8, 6 and 4, were in the vehicle. Linguanti, who didn't have custody of her children, was at a scheduled visitation when she put the girls in the car and drove off. Linguanti, a heroin addict, had used the drug a half-hour before the visitation. The terms of the custody agreement forbid her to drive with the children in her car.

Linguanti veered off the road on Tower Drive and crashed. Edelman-Reyes said Chloe, 6, had a long gash across her forehead, and will likely have permanent scars. Shaelan, 4, had a concussion and a broken pelvis. The oldest daughter, Brianna, had minor injuries.

The court had allowed Linguanti to go into treatment after her Jan. 22 plea, but she quickly flunked out of the program.

Edelman-Reyes asked Freehill to impose the maximum five to 15 years for the charge.

Linguanti's lawyer, Glen Kroll, asked the judge for something on the low end of the sentencing range. "Heather very clearly has very serious issues," he told the court. "I understand the injuries were serious. Thank God we're not dealing with death or paralysis."

Linguanti apologized, and said she's working on her addiction.

"I don't want to do it anymore," she told the judge. "I caused harm to my children, and I know if I wasn't under the influence, it wouldn't have happened. I love my children "» I'm really sorry, I am."

"I'm sure you're sorry today," Freehill told Linguanti, but she failed to follow the terms of her visitation, failed to abide by her plea promises to the court and failed to follow the rules of the drug treatment program. He imposed a sentence of four to 12 years in prison.

"You have a serious problem," Freehill told her. "You are going to have a few years in state prison to get help."